A spotlight on local districts that saw heated battles for seats in the Texas House of Representatives:

District 65: Republican Ron Simmons defeated Democrat Gary Brown by a wide margin. The two political newcomers battled to succeed Burt Solomons, who is retiring from the Denton County district.

District 102: Republican incumbent Stefani Carter won a second term after taking a large lead over Rich Hancock during early voting. Carter, who was often at Richardson City Hall during early voting, credited her Democratic opponent for running a good campaign.

District 105: Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown of Irving was leading in her bid for a sixth term, though it was not a comfortable ride vs. Democrat Rosemary Robbins. The race was among the closest of the night, too close to call with four of 61 precincts not yet counted.

District 107: Republican first-term incumbent Kenneth Sheets and Democrat Robert Miklos battled over turf that was redrawn to include much of the district that Miklos won in 2008. Sheets was holding ground, but the race was too close to call with six of 59 precincts not yet counted.

District 114: In his first bid for public office, Republican attorney Jason Villalba held a sizable lead against Carol Kent. Kent, a Democrat, scored a state House seat in 2008 and was defeated in 2010.